Pain: A Sound Cure

Here is a toning exercise designed to ease pain, drawn from the recent book The Mozart Effect by musician and educator Don Campbell.

Dr. Andrew Weil

• Sit or stand in a comfortable position, or if you are bedridden, position yourself so that your throat and neck are relaxed.
• Now close your eyes an locate the source of your physical discomfort.
• Make an ah or an ou sound (the most soothing) and visualize the pain in your body being released through your voice.
• The ou sound is pronounced like the ou in the word soup.
• If the pain is acute, you may want to make a high ee sound.
• The ee and ay sounds release sharp pains and can help you let go of inner anger and torment.
(Be sure to let anyone nearby that you are experimenting with sound and not to be alarmed.)
• It takes a few minutes of toning before the pain begins to change shape. Never strain the voice, and rest between each minute or two of sounding. This method can trigger an endorphin release that will mask the pain for a short time. Pain that has emotional origins may also be released, which will enable the body to heal more effectively.

Experpted from The Mozart Effect by Don Campbell.

Copyright 1997 by the author. Reprinted with permission of Avon Books.